As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Server computer systems, such as those in information handling systems, often require large amounts of disk storage and/or highly redundant disk storage for data. That data may include information such as web pages and database content for a shopping website or a news website, bank account information, or movie and television show videos, among many other kinds of data. Large amounts of data require a large number of hard disk drives (HDD) to store the data. Further, high redundancy can require multiple copies of the same data be stored on different hard disk drives (HDDs) in case of a failure of one of the hard disk drives (HDDs). Thus, there are often many hard disk drives (HDDs) in server computer systems. The number of hard disk drives (HDDs) for a data center installation are often several times the number of servers installed in the data center. In data centers with tens or hundreds of servers, the number of hard disk drives (HDDs) can be over a hundred or several hundred. Hard disk drives (HDDs) are conventionally mounted in carriers that can be inserted or removed from chassis in a data center.
FIG. 1 is an example hard disk drive (HDD) carrier assembly according to the prior art. A hard disk drive (HDD) 102 may be attached to a carrier 104 having a locking and release mechanism 106. The locking and release mechanism 106 is shown in further detail in an inset view of FIG. 1. The mechanism 106 includes a latch 110 that clips onto the top cover 108 when the carrier 104 is fully inserted into a chassis. Releasing the HDD 102 involves applying a combination of forces. First, a downward force on the latch 110 is applied to release the carrier 104 from the top cover 108. Second, a nearly simultaneous outward force is applied to push the HDD 102 forward in a bay such that the HDD 102 extends out of the bay enough for a user to grab a front of the HDD 102 and fully remove the HDD 102 from the bay. The force and coordination required of a user to accomplish the removal of the HDD 102 can frustrate a user. Further, over application of force can cause damage to components, either the HDD 102, the latch 110, or the top cover 108. For example, the top cover 108 may be scratched by application of the outward force to the latch 110 when the latch 110 extends over the top cover 108.
With such a large number of hard disk drives (HDDs), maintenance tasks, such as replacing a failed drive, can be frequent. Thus, easy and quick access to insert and release HDDs is important, both in reducing failures and reducing maintenance time.